Here are some techniques and advice that I have learned through these various humbling experiences.
No one prepared me for one of the most humbling experiences of my life: the first year of college. I assumed being a straight-A student with a million extracurriculars in high school would be enough to prepare me; oh, how wrong I was. I never realized it would be one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Can you relate? Just know you are not alone.
For instance, I presumed that all the classes I’m taking would be relatively simple; nope, wrong again. In this case, I ignorantly figured that geology would be easy, and for the most part it is, until I had to start learning rock chemistry. Additionally, I triumphantly failed my first college exam. Needless to say, when I got my score back, I swear I almost fainted.
By comparison, I decided to do the walk-on program for the D1 Women’s Rowing team, and if you were wondering whether it humbled me too, yes, it did. Between being up at four a.m. and running/rowing over 20 miles in one week, my body was exhausted.
On top of all this, maintaining a social life in college/home seemed increasingly impossible. At the beginning of college, I put my social life above my own. As you can imagine, this didn’t last long; not everyone stays in your life, especially friends from back home. And that is okay. Learning to let this habit go, and knowing I can’t control others, was humbling enough on its own.
Moreover, through these humbling experiences, I have begun to develop ideas that have helped me and could help you conquer college and earn your degrees! First, we must normalize not knowing something right away and/or failing, especially in college; as daunting as it may seem, it is okay. Whether academically or in any other activity, it has been proven essential to the learning process, however humbling it may be. Failing has been proven to be far more innovative, and, subsequently, making “intelligent mistakes” is the ideal goal. As cliché as it may sound, you must learn to fail to learn to succeed.
What I have found to be the most profound solution to being humbled is knowing that there is no solution; stupid, right? Life isn’t meant to be known; it is meant to be learned as you go and to continue learning. Even if that means failing a geology exam. Or if that means you grow apart from the people back home, as uncertain and sad as that may sound, it’s part of life. Live your life in the present; let yourself be humbled, because I guarantee, ultimately, you will end up happier in the end. But to truly thrive your freshman year of college, I will leave you with this, something my best friend told me: “Say yes to everything, unless it kills you.”
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